PPP2: Character & Narrative Presentations - Synthesis Between Modules

During these past 2 weeks, we had presentations that informed us about the intertwining elements of film connected with animation. Two presentations in total, one about character and short story design, and the other about acting and reference - both containing and annotating important conventions that add finesse, professionalism, and effect in relation to the audience. In other words, the presentations tackled the multitude of notions that an animator is to consider when creating a full-fledged, visceral animation that has the power to relay any message across. During the first presentations the concept of narration was elaborated upon and it structured it all in a list of animation fragments - what can animation be: computer games, film, television. In order to coherently demonstrate the versatility of animation in relation to narrative, we looked at both machinima - machine cinema (Skyrim role-playing within role-playing) and 2D animation (Cordel Barker's "Runaway"). During the second presentation an emphasis was placed on acting and the use of reference, which is essential to development of practice and the capturing of the human essence within animation. Animation is the most free-form art in film where one must take advantage of it's visually descriptive power in relation to the reality that surrounds us - animation forges a vivacious world that broadens our perspective about the actual world before us. Having said that, I need not hesitate to mention the live-action references Disney have used throughout their existence where acting has solidified their character design and behaviour to the limit, which made me think about my own references. After both presentations were done, I started exploring different animations and films for references. Initially, I started using referential images for grasping perspective of scenes for my Character & Narrative animations, such as an overhead shot of the sea and a boat passing through it. However, I believed that watching actors perform would be a lot better for constructing references. Turning over to Jim Carrey, I watched his movies "Liar Liar" and "Ace Ventura" (again, I've seen them before) and started analyzing his acting and behaviour since it's really reminiscent of exaggerated animated character's movements. For example, the faces he makes are excellent reference for facial expressions in characters with taking the main elements from his face and hyperbolizing them (sort of like a caricature). I also tried drawing faces and expressions based on the Jim Carrey faces picture attached above. When it comes to narrative, I believe there can be two points within the spectrum of straightforward narratives and ambiguous narratives, the former being clearly evident actions that produce a story (for example, Charlie Chaplin's films, or ...) and the latter being symbolically phantasmagoric narratives that are quite amenable to interpretations or difficult to understand due to the subtle themes included (one such would be Jan Svankmajer's "Dimensions of Dialogue"). However, the different styles and techniques differentiate massively from creator to creator in order to assert a tone, atmosphere, and aesthetic to the main dispersion of the story, with a soul purpose for it to be both attention grasping and meaningful to the audience.

Attempt at using Jim Carrey's faces as reference.